New here

Hello all! Have been reading this forum for several days. Have been attending truck driving school full time at community college, 5 days a week for the last 4 weeks. I should be testing this week for my Virginia CDL.

I worked 36 years (through the end of 2010) in the family business, eventually serving as president and obtaining 50% ownership. Due to the loss of our major account because of its closure, which represented 70% of our revenues, I decided to leave the business and choose a new career path. (I am almost 56 years old.) I started training for a law enforcement-related field, eventually enrolling in community college for a year where I earned two Associate degrees in Administration of Justice this past May. But I really think my age prevented departments from wanting to hire me and invest in the additional training i would have needed.

Because I've always enjoyed trucks and driving (I drove a flatbed for our company part-time making local deliveries in late 70's/early 80's in the pre-CDL days) I've always had a desire to return to trucking which led me to enroll in driving school last month to be professionally trained. My background is spotless and my cover letter and resume are fairly impressive.

I realize I need to spend at least a year OTR. At that point I might consider purchasing a truck on my own or perhaps being a more attractive candidate to one of the higher quality employers.

I've applied at the usual suspects and received PreHires from Swift, Scnieder, Werner and Roehl.

Applied last week to Western Express, McElroy, TMC and Central Refigerated. Sent email asking if Crete accepts students from my driving school. TMC turned me down but my instructor said that may be because I live just outside their hiring area (A number of the companies don't hire to the east of I-95.) I'm located in SE Virginia just to the east of I-95 but west of Hampton Roads.

If anyone has any advice, I'm "all ears" and would be grateful for some words of wisdom as to the best place to begin my driving career.